One of New York City's most iconic buildings earns an EnergyStar rating of 90, making it one of the nation's most energy-efficient buildings.

The Empire State Building is in the midst of a massive green retrofit. The energy efficiency upgrade progress began in 2009 and should be completed in 2013. Although the project’s completion is still several years out, the building earned an EnergyStar rating of 90 points, putting its energy performance in the top tenth percentile of buildings nationwide.

In order to receive EnergyStar certification, a building most score a minimum of 75/100 points. Malkin Holdings manages the building on behalf of the Empire State Building Company and Anthony E. Malkin commented on reaching their goal of 90 points on the EnergyStar rating system.

“Receiving an EnergyStar rating of 90 out of 100 is a significant accomplishment for any building, and an especially groundbreaking accomplishment for our Pre-War Trophy Empire State Building. With the building’s overall energy efficiency retrofit project still in progress, we may see a higher number when all of the initiatives are completed.” Source: Empire State Building Company

Ultimately, the retrofit is expected to reduce overall energy consumption in the building by more than 38 percent, which translates to a $4.4 million savings per year. This is good news for tenants of the building.

In order to achieve this level of energy use reduction, the project is operating on eight key components:

Window light retrofit

Radiator insulation retrofit

Tenant lighting, daylighting and plug upgrades

Air handler replacements

Chiller plant retrofit

Whole-building control system upgrade

Ventilation control upgrade

Tenant energy management systems

Although the building has already received an EnergyStar rating of 90 and may earn a higher score upon completion, the building is also on track to receive a LEED for Existing Buildings Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.